Apple Maps wins over Google Maps in navigation tests

When the Cupertino tech giant released its own maps engine and app with the iOS 6, ditching Google’s maps engine, it got into a lot of criticism from the tech industry and the general public which uses the iPhone. The whole mapping solution from the company was just not good enough. This means that the rendering was not proper, and you know the whole story. This became one of the major gags on Facebook and other social networking sites for making fun of Apple and its products.

And right at that time, Google saw a window of opportunity for business and released the Google Maps for iOS, which was accepted by the iOS community without a second thought. This is just what was needed to get any kind of mapping solution on iOS device again.

But since then, since the launch of iOS 6, Apple has had a lot of time to fix these issues. We cannot say that the new Apple Maps is the perfect maps application there is today, but it has proved to be improved a lot compared to its earlier versions, and this is proved by an informal test done by John C. Dvorak. But do keep in mind that this test is way too far from any kind of scientific tests performed in the industry.

But this test should not be taken too lightly as well because this provides a very good test in practical situations, out in the wild traffic that we encounter every day. So what was the test? It was a simple testing of three mapping services: Apple, Google, and Waze. The test consisted of navigating around the Bay area with a few stops on the way to the destination. This is pretty straight forward. And the result was that the car which used Apple Maps reached the destination a good five minutes before the other two cars reached.

And it is interesting to know that Google Maps had real issues. Pocket Now says, “Dvorak noticed some specific instances where Google’s directions were incorrect.” Again, this is not any kind of scientific proof that Apple Maps is better. But it is good to know that Apple is really working on making its products better, as usual, and that the Apple Maps might be the mapping solution to beat.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: we are not affiliated with the device manufacturers or phone carriers we mention in any way, all suggestions are based on our own experience and research, you may use our advice at your own discretion.